Beer Of The Week Resurrection?

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Brewsmith

Home brewing moogerfooger
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A while back we did some weekly commercial beer tasting where a single beer would be sampled and critiqued each week. Would anyone be intersted in bringing it back?

If there is interest I could organize it and keep it on track. I propose the following guidelines:

1. Beers must be widely available, imports and domestic, not from micros that don't distribute out of state.

2. Tastings will be done on the weekend Fri-Sun.

3. Beer Of The Week will be announced by Monday, giving everyone the week to find a sample.

We could also use this to discuss how each beer fits in to styles and the style guidelines.

Any thoughts?
 
I would try to participate if the beer was available as a single in my area.

Obviously, I think that availability will be the #1 limiting factor.
 
Well, I'd love to do it. Most beers are unavailable to me; however, I'd love to read about them even if I can't get the beer in my area. Or, if you could post them a ways in advance, maybe I could make arrangements to get some of them when I travel or from friends in a beerswap. I have a friend would probably send me some beer if I ask really nice, and send some wine in return.

I think it's a great idea!
 
Worst case, people that can't find the selected beer could have something in the same style on hand.
 
What I think I'll do is start a thread in the Sampling forum with a master Beer Of The Week thread. I'll post the rest of the month of February so that you guys and gals can get a head start on finding them. We'll have the first official tasting next week.

I would like to keep it seasonaly appropriate as well, so I'll take that into account.

If anyone has suggestions post them here.

Here's some of my thoughts for possibilities:
Domestic: Sam Adams (including seasonals) Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Pyramid, Blue Moon...

Other's that might be more regional may be Stone, Red Hook, Flying Dog, Dogfish Head, New Glarus, Abita, Goose Island, Brooklyn...

Many of the imports are available nationwide, so I don't think they will be as much of a problem.
 
I'm there!

I think this will be a great way for my to learn about different styles, and help in being able to identify what ingredients I'm tasting.

Can't wait!
 
Drinking new beer and learning?? Sounds like college to me :drunk: , if i can find them i am in.



SD
 
I'm in to the extent I can do it (and remember to). I recommend doing it as a new thread for each beer, rather than a master thread, so that the discussions can remain separate. There may be discussion going beyond the tasting period, and I see no reason why folks couldn't come in late and add their take. If we want to get relly crazy, we could suggest a subforum.


TL
 
I'm in! Sounds like a good idea. In the long run, after it has been done for a while, it will also be a great learning resource on here for all of us. Good idea! :mug:
 
Would it be better to do this as a "style of the week/month" club?

It's just going to be really hard for those of us on opposite coasts to find a lot of interesting beers that we can get our hands on, other than stuff like Sam Adams (which are usually bastardizations of the style anyway). But, we could say that "This is dopplebock week!" and if we've got Celebrator, we talk about that... if we've got some local example, we talk about that... we talk about the style in general and how we should be brewing it.

I mean, I know that's a completely different beast than what you're talking about, but it seems like it'll be a real struggle for most people to be able to get their hands on the exact same beer without always having to "settle" for something just because it's all we can get.

Just a thought.
 
If we go style, we could follow Jamil's schedule and set PsuedoChef on a rampage. ;)

Nothing wrong with starting out with the basics:
Guinness
Sierra Nevada
...
 
I like the style idea as well. I'll try to keep each month to a theme or style, and there will be plenty of room for "open" weeks.

I'll try to make it vary week to week as far as geographic distribution, plus there will be plenty of imports as we go.

I'll get somewhat of a format planned out by the weekend, and I'll start an official thread on Monday. If anyone has suggestions for beers to try, give me a PM.
 
My first suggestion is to figure out and post the beers at least a couple weeks in advance. I know some folks make weekly trips to their favorite beer stores, but not all of us do. It would be nice to know what I need to pick up a little more in advance. If that is just a big PITA, then I'll manage. :)


TL
 
Here was my proposal to BrewSmith, but I'll open it up to the group for comments...

I dropped the ball on the "Monthly Beer Swaps" thing a while back (Cheese was going to help me out, when all the sh*t with him went down, I kinda lost motivation). How 'bout declaring a "Style of the Month," then use that to frame both discussions and a homebrew swap? Maybe even a commercial swap...

Example; March is Stout month. We revisit and review some commercial examples as a group (Guiness, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, somebody's RIS, etc.) We have a Stout-Swap, either for homebrew or usual commercial examples (just a couple bottles). We have a "Let's talk about STOUT!" discussion, where we talk about the different versions of stout, what makes a milk stout different from an oatmeal stout, etc. Maybe we work on putting together a RIS recipe as a group (although collaberative recipes are always a cluster****)

Thoughts? Something to pursue?
 
By whatever power vested in me as a mod I hereby do nobly deputize Brewsmith to what is necessary to propogate this good and wholesome cause. Can I get a RDWHAHB?

Jamil's schedule for your review Brewsmith or we can go our own way.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/jamil_upcoming.php

February 25, 2008 - Doppelbock
March 10, 2008 - Bière de Garde
March 24, 2008 - Special/Best/Premium Bitter
April 07, 2008 - Dunkelweizen
April 21, 2008 - Classic Rauchbier
May 05, 2008 - Irish Red Ale
May 19, 2008 - Baltic Porter
June 02, 2008 - Lambic/Gueuze/Fruit Lambic
June 16, 2008 - Belgian Specialty Ale
June 30, 2008 - Vienna Lager
July 14, 2008 - American Stout
July 28, 2008 - Belgian Blond Ale
August 11, 2008 - North German Altbier
August 25, 2008 - Old Ale
September 08, 2008 - Belgian Dubbel
September 22, 2008 - English IPA
October 06, 2008 - Flanders Brown Ale/Oud Bruin
October 20, 2008 - Traditional Bock
November 03, 2008 - Foreign Extra Stout
November 17, 2008 - Belgian Tripel
December 01, 2008 - Traditional Mead
December 15, 2008 - Cyser/Pyment/Metheglin/Braggot
December 29, 2008 - Specialty Cider and Perry

These conincide with his show and his style articles in Zymugy, I believe.
 
I'm down for doing it whenever I can, based on availability.

As far as availability goes, though, if you can find it on this list then it's probably available everywhere. ;)

How should we post our responses? Print of some BJCP judging sheets and take it from there?
 
I have to say, as a noob, I'd like to see a beer of the week, rather than a style. The more of us talking about the same beer, the more helpful for us noobs to figure out what ingredients we're tasting.

But, if y'all want to do a style of the week instead, I'm in either way.

I have to warn you that though, I'll have to pester y'all to find out what particular brand falls into, and is a good representative of that particular style. We don't have any beer shops around here, and it would be hard to find anyone knowledgeable enough to be of any help at the grocery stores where I'd have to buy it.
 
I'm all in. I work at a wine and liquor store that has a great selection of beers, so no sweat getting them.

Greg
 
I was thinking along the lines of using the Jamil Show as a reference. You guys just beat me to it. Jamil's schedule is every two weeks, and I know some styles are harder to find. What I might do is just cut his list in half, filtering out some of the harder ones to get, that way we can stick to about one style a month and cover several commercial examples as well as possibly do some homebrew swaps and do a homebrew tasting as well.
 
Let's remember, too, that there's two years' worth of old episodes. No need to specifically exclude something just because it was already discussed.
 
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